Cultivating Immortality, Starts with Green Plum

Chapter 41 Something is not right
"Fifth brother, it's time for us to go over there, Fifth brother."

In the evening, Xu Pangda came to Xiaochunyuan to pick up Xu Ming.

"Coming." Xu Ming responded, then said something to his mother and walked out of the yard.

As soon as we walked out of Xu's house, a special carriage came to pick us up.

Sitting in the carriage, Xu Pangda was still reading the Analects of Confucius and looked very nervous.

Xu Ming: "Third brother, don't be so nervous. You can't read many books in such a short time."

Xu Pangda scratched his head and said, "That's true. I just want to see as much as possible to make up for the gap with the other party."

Xu Ming shook his head: "The more I read, the more I lose my composure. Third brother, you have to believe in yourself and do your best."

"Oh." Xu Pangda, who always listened to Xu Ming, nodded.

But after a while, Xu Pangda glanced at Xu Ming and couldn't help asking, "Fifth brother, what do you think a natural literary talent is like? Could it be that the literary star has really descended to earth?"

"Who knows?" Xu Ming shook his head.

Xu Ming also wanted to see what this natural literary talent looked like.

Not long after, the carriage gradually stopped, and Xu Pangda and Xu Ming walked into the Sifang Pavilion under the guidance of their attendants.

This dinner did not mean that everyone sat at the table to eat, but sat on the floor with a small table in front of them.

According to the rules, the host must go to Sifang Pavilion first and then invite the guests over.

When Xu Ming and Xu Pangda arrived, the reception group was also present, and the attendants and maids went to invite the envoys from Qi State to come.

In less than half an incense stick of time, the Qi envoys, who had been prepared long ago, took their seats one after another.

The dishes were brought up by the maids and placed in front of everyone.

A book boy like Xu Ming was not qualified to sit in the upper seat and could only sit next to Xu Pangda.

Looking at the delicious food in front of him, Xu Pangda was drooling a little, but because his fifth brother couldn't eat it, Xu Pangda felt that he wouldn't eat it well either, so he didn't pick up his chopsticks.

At the banquet, the adults ate while chatting about poems, songs, interesting stories about literati and who wrote a good article.

While they were eating, dancers came up to dance to warm up the atmosphere.

I have to say that these dancers danced very beautifully. Xu Ming felt that they were much more beautiful than the ones he had seen in short videos on the Internet in his previous life.

After the dancer finished her performance, everyone started talking about some future cooperation that could be achieved between Wu and Qi. For example, students from Wu could go to Qi for further studies, and the academies of the two countries could carry out exchanges and cooperation.

Later, it seemed that there was nothing to talk about, so a scholar from Qi suggested that everyone take the flower order.

The general rule of Jiehualing is to determine the starting verse. You can choose a poem or lyrics as the starting sentence, but the sentence must contain specific words or lyrics.

The way of taking orders is that the person taking over needs to continue to recite the verses containing specific words or phrases in order. The verses can be a complete poem or phrase, or part of a sentence.

Usually it starts from the opening sentence and continues one by one until no new verses can be produced. If the player cannot produce a new verse, he or she loses the game.

The loser will have to drink a penalty drink.

Although it is just a simple game, it is very elegant.

But everyone here represents the face of the country, so naturally they don’t want to lose.

When the flower-catching game started, Xu Ming saw that except for Xiao Mochen, the other scholars from Wu Dynasty were drinking and their faces were getting redder and redder.

It's not just because of drinking, it's also because of anger, and more importantly, it's because of embarrassment.

Especially when it was the turn of a scholar from Qi to continue the poem, the scholar said, "I am a little thirsty, I will drink a cup first", then raised his head to drink a cup, and then said his next poem, which was even more humiliating. However, these scholars from Wu could not get angry, because if they got angry, it would be even more embarrassing.

The Qi delegation was filled with a relaxed and happy atmosphere, while everyone on the Wu side seemed to be close to Hong Wen.

Xu Ming felt as if he heard "Warning!" and "Warning..." again and again in his ears.

Mr. Fang from Qi State, who was sitting in the seat of honor, took a sip of wine. He felt something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Fang Jingchun looked at Xiao Mochen beside him. Xiao Mochen noticed Fang Jingchun's gaze, nodded lightly, and smiled back.

Fang Jingchun looked at the scholars from Wu State again. They all looked in the same direction intentionally or unintentionally.

There was a little fat boy sitting in that direction, and next to him was a servant boy.

Fang Jingchun knew that the little fat boy was called Xu Pangda, and he was the top scorer in the children's examination in the capital of Wu State.

As for the book boy.

Who cares about a book boy?

"His Majesty."

In the Yangxin Palace, Eunuch Wei hurried in and knelt beside Emperor Wu.

Concubine Hua, who was standing beside Emperor Wu, was wearing a thin nightgown and making tea for him.

"How's the banquet going?" Emperor Wu asked slowly.

He had been waiting for news ever since the dinner to entertain Qi State.

"Your Majesty, the envoys from Qi had a very pleasant conversation with our Wu State, but..." Eunuch Wei looked embarrassed.

"Don't keep me in suspense." Emperor Wu picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"Your Majesty, this is a secret report from Tingfeng Pavilion." Eunuch Wei presented it hurriedly.

Emperor Wu opened the secret report and read it carefully. It recorded the general process of the banquet.

The more he read the secret report, the more Emperor Wu's brows furrowed.

Concubine Hua, who was standing by, sensed that the emperor was in a bad mood and became nervous, fearing that innocent people would be implicated.

Seeing the end, Emperor Wu smiled:
"Except for Fang Jingchun and the two child prodigies, none of the young people in the Qi State delegation who are well-known in Qi State, the top young writers in Qi State's literary world, are here.

The people Xiao Mochen brought with him were all the most famous young people in our Wu Kingdom.

As a result, these guys were forced to drink all the time!
Wei Xun, you have followed the late emperor since you were a child, and now you have followed me for ten years. What do you think about this matter?"

Eunuch Wei had cold sweat on his forehead. He organized his words and answered carefully, "Something is not right. Even if the literary world of Wu State cannot compare with the best of Qi State, facing these people, even if the children of Wu State lose, they should not lose so miserably."

"It's more than just a little strange." Emperor Wu rubbed his eyes, "What on earth is this Xiao Mochi doing behind my back?"

Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, Emperor Wu raised his head, his eyes fixed, "Wei Xun, at the banquet, the boy from the Xu Mansion and the son of the Minister of Rites each brought a servant, right?"

"Yes." Wei Xun nodded, and then his eyes lit up, and he immediately understood what the Emperor meant, "I will go and check if Xu Ming is at the banquet!"

Wei Xun crawled out of the Yangxin Palace.

After looking at the tightly closed door for a long time, Emperor Wu couldn't help but laugh:
“This Xiao Mochi!
This Xiao Mochi?"

(End of this chapter)